May 3, 2019

Strange Laws

For chicken lovers in Gainesville, Georgia, “finger-lickin’” is not a suggestion, it is mandatory. Thanks to a 1961 law added to the city code as a publicity stunt, it is illegal to eat fried chicken in “the poultry capital of the world” with anything other than your fingers.

In Japan, over-the-counter allergy/sinus medications that contain the ingredient pseudoephedrine such as Vicks inhalers and Sudafed are banned under Japan’s strict anti-stimulant drug laws.

It’s an offense in Florence, Italy to eat or drink while sitting on church steps or within a church courtyard. The same law applies to eating near public buildings.

In Wisconsin, public schools, jails, and hospitals are not permitted to feed margarine. Per state law, these groups may not be fed butter substitutes unless the substitution is necessary for their health.

You can buy caskets at Walmart and Costco, or direct from the manufacturer and save money. You can also rent a casket for the ceremony. You are not required to be embalmed.

Cranks and Screws

Some prison administrations felt that having inmates occupy the same space to work a treadmill or pick oakum was too much mingling. When they wanted to keep them properly isolated, inmates had to do work alone in their cells. Officials had also noticed something they found very interesting: Inmates hated a pointless task more than a meaningful one. This presented them with an obvious solution: the crank.
The crank was literally a crank that stuck out of a small wooden box that was usually set on a table or pedestal in the inmate’s cell. Despite its innocuous description, it was a truly soul-crushing monstrosity designed to exhaust inmates mentally and physically. Inside the box was a drum or paddle that turned nothing but sand and rocks. The axle on which the crank turned had a screw, which warders could tighten or loosen depending on how much punishment they wanted to mete out. The screw would make the crank easier or harder to turn.
Warders who came in to adjust the screw earned themselves the nickname “screws” for the suffering it caused.

A prisoner left in isolation with the crank usually did not need to worry about a beating if they just ignored the machine. Instead, they would worry about starvation. Each crank had a counter on the box that logged the number of turns. An inmate had to reach a certain number of turns before being allowed to do basic things like eat and sleep. Most were expected to make at least 10,000 rotations a day.

Apple and i

The i- prefix for Apple products was created as part of the iMac in the late 90s and was adopted into a full product line shortly after. The original meaning was "internet", meaning the iMac was capable of internet connectivity out of the box.

Later Apple and Steve Jobs used it more to refer to individual, innovation, instruct, inform, and inspire.

It became a handy and easy to remember code for all things Apple.

Gardening and Exercise

According to research, leisure activities, such as gardening, can actually have just as many physical benefits as working out does. A recent study, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, measured in participants what the study refers to as “leisure time physical activity.”
Doing leisure time physical activity for just 10-59 minutes a week resulted in an 18 percent lower risk of all-cause mortality. The more you do, the less risk you have. Those who engaged in 150 to 299 minutes of physical activity each week had a 31 percent decrease in mortality.

Leisure time physical activity could refer to anything that exerts physical activity, but is more fun than your monotonous routine at the gym. Dancing qualifies as a leisure time physical activity, as does walking, hiking, and swimming. However, one of the best activities for this kind of benefit is gardening.

There have been many studies in the past that show regular gardening helps you keep in top physical shape. Whether it is weeding, trimming, or raking, gardening can help you burn up to 300 calories an hour. Plus, related activities such as spading, lifting and tilling can help you increase your muscle tone and strength.

In addition to physical benefits, gardening in general has been linked to many other health benefits, including less depression, anxiety, and stress, according to a meta analysis published in Preventative Medicine Reports. It also found that people who garden regularly also had a better sense of life satisfaction in general.

Wordology, Pangram

A pangram is a sentence that uses every letter in the alphabet. The name comes from two Greek root words. “Pan” means “all,” and “gram” means “something written.” Together, they mean all written letters.

The quick brown fox jumps over a lazy dog.
The five boxing wizards jump quickly.

A pangram must be a full sentence. That means it needs to include a subject and a predicate. A “perfect pangram” uses each letter from the alphabet only once.

Favorite Color Study

One of the most calming colors to be surrounded by, according to a global survey from paper merchant G F Smith and psychologists at the University of Sussex, UK is navy blue, closely followed by teal-like turquoise, and soft pastel pink.
The World's Favorite Color Project involved 26,596 participants from over 100 different countries to get some insights into the world's most beloved color. To do this, they asked people to list attributes and emotions that they associate with certain colors in the hopes of also finding out what different hues mean to different people, and what may influence this.
“First, the more saturated the color is, the more it is associated with excitement and stimulation. Second, the lighter the color, the more it is associated with calmness and relaxation."

Many studies have found that blue and green are also associated with calmness and relaxation. The findings also showed that orange is most often associated with happiness, while pink is viewed as the sexiest, and the colors people around the world most associated with luxury are white, purple, and orange.

Apr 26, 2019

Happy Friday

If you cannot change, how can you discover that each day is better than the last?

Today is a better day to celebrate a Happy Friday!

Tesla Space Roadster Progress

Elon Musk is so difficult to keep up with as he spreads his time between massive projects that each would consume other mere mortals.

His space roadster and Starman was one of those projects that we marveled at, but has since almost slipped from memory. It has traveled more than a half million miles so far. Here is a site that is still tracking the vehicle as it continues to fly in orbit around the sun at a speed of 13,561 mi/h.  LINK

National Pretzel Day

April 26 is National Pretzel Day. Most people agree that pretzels have a Christian background, and they were developed by the monks. According to The History of Science and Technology, in 610 AD, an Italian monk invents pretzels as a reward to children who learn their prayers. He called the strips of baked dough, folded to resemble arms crossing the chest, pretiola (little rewards).
The Pennsylvania Dutch immigrants introduced pretzels to North America in the 19th century. At this time, many handmade pretzel bakeries populated central Pennsylvania, and their popularity quickly spread.

Grapefruit Juice and Drugs

Why many prescription medications include the warning, “do not take with grapefruit juice.”

The reason is because grapefruit juice messes with your body’s ability to properly metabolize the medicine. It blocks a crucial enzyme (CYP3A4) that controls how much of the medicine you receive. Drinking even one glass of grapefruit juice throws off the safe dose. Basically, it is subject to a potentially dramatic increase in systemic exposure and associated higher risk of overdose with grapefruit as a result of diminished the CYP3A4 activity, primarily in the small intestine, rather than in the liver.

Kohl's Accepts Amazon Returns

Kohl’s announced that it will start accepting Amazon returns at all 1,150 of its stores starting in July 2019. There is no extra charge for the service.
Kohl’s and Amazon started experimenting with a collaboration on brick-and-mortar returns back in 2017, allowing customers to take back items purchased on Amazon even if those items were already out of their Amazon shipping boxes.
Kohl’s CEO Michelle Gass explained in a press release that the partnership with Amazon, called 'Amazon Returns', is “delivering innovation,” and perhaps more importantly, driving traffic to Kohl’s stores.
The announcement from Kohl’s is careful to note that the company will only accept “eligible” returns, which means that you cannot return things you bought on Amazon from a third-party. If your item was sent from an Amazon warehouse, you are probably safe to return it, but you must double-check by heading to the Amazon Returns Center online.

Kohl’s started carrying Amazon products in over 200 stores last month, including the Amazon Fire tablet, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, the Echo Dot, and the Echo Show.

Wordology, EPCOT

Back during 1966 Walt Disney had an idea for part of his theme park in Florida. He planned for it to be an actual community and called it EPCOT. Most folks have forgotten or never knew what that meant or if it was just a word. On Disney World’s website, “Epcot” actually is not written in all caps, which would suggest that it is not an acronym. However, it is an acronym for “Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow.” Now you know.


Incidentally, Walt Disney might have been the first to put gloves on his characters. In addition to being easier to animate, he also did not want Mickey to have mouse hands, because he was supposed to be more human.

More Things You Think Cause Cancer but Do Not

Power lines emit both electric and magnetic energy, but do not cause cancer. According to the National Cancer Institute's fact sheet on Electromagnetic Fields and Cancer. 'The electric energy emitted by power lines is easily shielded or weakened by walls and other objects. The magnetic energy emitted by power lines is a low-frequency form of radiation that does not damage genes.

Slicing a tumor does not cause it to spread. During 2005, nearly 41 percent of people surveyed by the American Cancer Society said they believed that surgery to remove cancer actually caused cancer to spread, and an additional 13 percent were not sure. Surgeons use special protocols to prevent cancer cells from migrating during surgical procedures. Also, cancer replicates and metastasizes on its own, not with the help of a scalpel.

Exposure to air does not cause cancer to spread. "There is no scientific data supporting that theory," says Blair Marshall, MD, thoracic surgeon, on oncolink.com. Dr. Marshall writes that the theory stems from situations where cancer patients have surgery and then later die of metastatic cancer. "In actuality," Dr. Marshall reports, "if the patient had not undergone any surgery at all, they still would have developed widespread disease." This belief is more prevalent and difficult to disentangle in under-served groups, according to the study, and may contribute to disparities in cancer outcomes in those groups.

Optimum Oreo Dunk Time

Members of Utah State University’s Splash Lab, an academic group studying the behaviors of fluids put Oreos to the test.
Three researchers gathered Oreos, Chips Ahoy, Nutter Butter, and Graham Crackers and dipped the cookies halfway in 2 percent milk for half a second to seven seconds. After dunking, the team weighed the treats and measured how much milk had been absorbed.
The results: Oreos absorbed 50 percent of their potential liquid weight in just one second. After two seconds, they absorbed 80 percent. The number flatlined briefly for a second. After the fourth second, the cookie maxed out: It absorbed all its possible milk. “This data indicates that for the tested cookies, keeping your cookie in the glass any longer than five seconds does not lead to any additional milk entering the cookies,” their study suggested.

Three seconds is enough time to saturate most of an Oreo. There is no benefit to dunking longer than four seconds. To increase dunk time, use high-fat dairy, such as whole milk (3.25 percent butterfat) or half-and-half (about 10 percent butterfat).